REPORT: COVID-19 Outbreaks in Non-Healthcare Settings – Data Updated to December 2

Posted: December 15, 2020

(December 15, 2020)

Click here for full version of the non-health care outbreaks report with a list of all outbreaks. A summary of the report can be found below.

———–

Introduction

It is evident that lockdowns in hotspots and increasing restrictions in most Public Health Unit regions have been inadequate to stem the spread of COVID-19 as Public Health Ontario reports a 22.1% increase in cases during the two-week period from November 18^th – December 2^nd[1], a rolling 7 day average of 1,795 cases per day[2] and a provincial test positivity rate of 3.9% during the week of November 22^nd– November 28^th, in which two neighbourhoods in Toronto and York have positivity rates above 20% and 27 areas in Peel, Toronto, York, Durham, Waterloo and Windsor have positivity rates above 10%. The Public Health Units with the highest test positivity rates are Peel (10.3%, Toronto 6.0%, York 5.7%, Windsor-Essex 4.3%, Waterloo 3.9%, Durham 3.7%, Hamilton 3.4% and Halton 3.3% [3]. The increase in non-health care workplaces now far outpace the spread in the general public, increasing 26.64%[4] in the same two weeks. This increase, as reported by Public Health Ontario also only includes 1,273 cases in schools associated with outbreaks (due to their narrow definition of “outbreak” in schools), compared to the actual 5,146 total cases in students and staff reported by the province of Ontario. With limited reporting being made available by most Public Health Units, the Ontario Health Coalition calculates that there has been an increase of 24.93% in cases in non-health care workplaces (including schools) over the most recent two-week period captured in this report, including all cases in schools and day care settings.

While cases in schools did not increase as drastically as in our previous report, the growth is still alarming and far beyond the rate of increase in the general public, increasing 41.4% in two weeks.  Large outbreaks at Thorncliffe Public School in Toronto and Frank W. Begley in Windsor-Essex, indicate that the potential for spread in our schools may be worse than expected.  Thorncliffe Public School is part of a provincial program offering voluntary on-site testing at schools in high positivity areas.  After joining the program there were 26 cases discovered with each of the school’s 18 classes having one or two positive cases[5].  After declaring an outbreak at Frank W. Begley, the number of positive cases have increased significantly as the school was tested and 45 cases have been associated with the outbreak.[6]  These large outbreaks indicate that better measures are needed to respond to the high growth in the spread of COVID-19 in schools.

The largest increase in cases in this report was from the manufacturing sector as the spread of the novel coronavirus grew by 76.68% in two weeks.  Not only have there been large outbreaks, such as the one at a Window Covering factory in Vaughan, but there have been outbreaks in low positivity health units like Cameco in Port Hope and Proctor and Gamble in Belleville. Retail outbreaks have continued to grow severity and frequency and have also spread across Ontario.  Retail outbreaks have increased 29.38% since our last report and have spread as far north as Sudbury. Cases in outbreaks among Public Service workplaces like transit, LCBO, Service Ontario and Utilities have risen 23.24% and cases in construction have also risen 25%.  Since it is evident that lockdown has not sufficient to curb the spread of the virus in Toronto and Peel and cases continue to spread from these hot spots, stronger measures, including clear and enforced infection control protocols must be put in place in workplaces that remain open.

While it has been impossible to find systematic province-wide information for workplace outbreaks due to the lack of transparent reporting in most Public Health Units, there have been significant improvements during this report.  Brant County and Hamilton Public Health Units are now reporting the names of businesses and cases associated with all outbreaks.  Hastings-Prince Edward and Timiskaming are reporting names of businesses only when necessary to properly contact trace the outbreak and Peel and Waterloo are revealing case numbers and industries but not the business names.  All other Public Health Units are not reporting any information beyond health care, some report congregate care settings and Windsor-Essex and Chatham-Kent report agricultural outbreaks.  Toronto is among the least transparent in their reporting, only reporting hospitals, long-term care, retirement homes and homeless shelters.

Contact tracing and quarantining remains a huge problem. In our last report during the week of November 14, 35.4% of COVID-19 cases had not been traced back to an exposure source.  For the week of November 28, 36.7% of cases have been traced back to their source.  In order to control the spread of this virus, Public Health Units must be given the resources to be able to contact trace COVID-19 cases and all those exposed must self-isolate or quarantine. The public needs to know what businesses are a source of potential exposure so that Ontarians can make informed decisions as well as know when to get tested or contact their local Public Health Unit.  Instead of providing this, the Ford government seems to be intent on loosening requirements for quarantining after international travel and sitting idle while waiting for a vaccine.[7]

*Public Health Ontario is now reporting some cases associated with school outbreaks, however their definition of a school outbreak requires a known epi link (same class or direct contact) and does not reflect the number of cases in schools even when there are multiple cases in the same school.

This total includes cases that we had previously tracked plus all of the cases that the province is reporting since September.  We have also included outbreaks in faith schools, administrative offices, student residences and private schools in our total.

————–

[1] Public Health Ontario. Weekly Epidemiologic Summary. December 2 2020. https://www.publichealthontario.ca/-/media/documents/ncov/epi/2020/11/covid-19-weekly-epi-summary-report-nov-14.pdf?la=en and https://www.publichealthontario.ca/-/media/documents/ncov/epi/covid-19-weekly-epi-summary-report.pdf?la=en

[2] Toronto Star. The latest numbers on COVID-19 in Canada for Sunday, Dec. 6, 2020. https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2020/12/06/the-latest-numbers-on-covid-19-in-canada-for-sunday-dec-6-2020.html

[3] IC/ES. COVID-19 Dashboard. December 2 2020 https://www.ices.on.ca/DAS/AHRQ/COVID-19-Dashboard

[4] Public Health Ontario. Weekly Epidemiologic Summary. December 2 2020. https://www.publichealthontario.ca/-/media/documents/ncov/epi/2020/11/covid-19-weekly-epi-summary-report-nov-14.pdf?la=en and https://www.publichealthontario.ca/-/media/documents/ncov/epi/covid-19-weekly-epi-summary-report.pdf?la=en

[5] Alphonso, Caroline. Toronto school closes after COVID-19 testing blitz uncovers more than two dozen cases

Globe and Mail. December 3 2020  https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/toronto/article-students-self-isolating-after-more-positive-covid-19-tests-at/

[6] Borelli, Melanie. Begley school to welcome back students this week after COVID-19 outbreak. CTV News. December 7 2020. https://windsor.ctvnews.ca/begley-school-to-welcome-back-students-this-week-after-covid-19-outbreak-1.5219919

[7] Davidson, Sean. Ford ‘really pushing’ to eliminate 14-day quarantine for travellers returning to Canada. December 2 2020. CTV News. https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/ford-really-pushing-to-eliminate-14-day-quarantine-for-travellers-returning-to-canada-1.5213375

[8] Epidemiological Summary. Public Health Ontario.  November 3 2020. https://www.publichealthontario.ca/-/media/documents/ncov/epi/covid-19-weekly-epi-summary-report.pdf?la=en

[9] Epidemiological Summary. Public Health Ontario.  November 18 2020. https://www.publichealthontario.ca/-/media/documents/ncov/epi/covid-19-weekly-epi-summary-report.pdf?la=en